Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16b-18)

As soon as I hit 40, my body started falling apart. First, I separated my shoulder going off a ski “jump” that was approximately four-and-a-half inches high. Then I tore my ACL trying to play football with teenagers. Then I developed permanent ringing in my ears from playing too much loud guitar. Then I tore a groin muscle playing hoops in the driveway. Then I had to get my feet scraped by a foot doctor because they had grown creepy-looking “mega calluses.” Then I had to get a pair of root canals because my teeth started falling apart. Then my hair started rapidly retreating from my head and popping up in unexpected places like my ears and nose. And, as I write this, I’m suddenly noticing that my eyesight seems to be fading fast.

Instead of grumbling about my sudden cornucopia of nose hair, I should pry my eyes away from the mirror and look up.

When we fix our eyes on God and see things from His eternal perspective, everything looks different. Our bodies falling apart is a blessing. God’s work is an inside job. Our troubles are temporary. What we see ain’t all there is. God’s got something much bigger and better in mind — eternal glory.